At this moment—
Tracy was in pain.
She didn't understand why a small cyan tripod had been sealed within her body all this time. If she hadn't stepped into the path of cultivation, would she have remained unaware of this secret her entire life?
John had been worried at first, but after carefully observing the pot, he finally exhaled a sigh of relief.
The pot was a magic treasure—and it posed no threat to her.
The pain she felt was likely due to the sudden release of its seal, a temporary backlash.
But after pain… came fortune.
Although John had no idea who had sealed the artifact inside her body, it had clearly merged with her long ago.
In other words, the tripod was now hers—an exclusive life-bound magic treasure.
To obtain a mysterious and high-grade magic treasure at the very beginning of one's cultivation journey was an astounding stroke of luck.
Even John couldn't help but feel a twinge of envy.
More intriguingly, he suspected that Tracy's innate talent for healing and medicine might be intrinsically connected to this very pot.
This tripod… was far from ordinary.
As expected, Tracy recovered after only a brief moment of agony. Suddenly, a half-person-high cyan tripod materialized in front of them, floating in midair.
It was the enlarged manifestation of the artifact that had been resting in her elixir field.
"John, this… this is amazing!" Tracy gasped, eyes wide in disbelief.
All her life, she'd seen herself as just an ordinary woman. Martial artists had always felt like a distant myth—let alone cultivators.
She had never imagined she would step onto this path, and even less that she would awaken such a powerful treasure on her very first day.
It was surreal.
Like a dream.
Yet the warmth of vital energy pulsing in her meridians and the hovering tripod before her eyes were real—undeniably real.
She inhaled deeply a few times, trying to steady her racing heart.
John stepped forward. "Tracy, I don't know the origin of this pot, but it's definitely a valuable magic treasure. You should store it away quickly. Don't display it to others. Ever."
A timeless warning—an innocent man becomes guilty simply by possessing a treasure.
To have such an artifact was a blessing, but flaunting it would only attract envious and dangerous eyes. Worse yet, this was a life-bound treasure. It had been sealed in her since childhood, meaning it could no longer recognize any other master unless she died.
In other words, if someone coveted it, she wouldn't be able to surrender the tripod even to save herself. Her only fate would be death—so the treasure could revert to an ownerless state.
It was a gift. And a curse.
She needed to be cautious.
Tracy nodded solemnly. "Don't worry, John. I'm not reckless. I'm not like you, parading around with your sword like a lunatic."
She remembered how, when John emerged from the Pacific Ocean, the Excalibur followed him closely, slashing through the waves as if to cleave the ocean itself in half. The scene had been utterly ostentatious.
Yet now here he was, lecturing her on keeping a low profile.
She gave him a playful side-eye before smiling and promptly reabsorbed the tripod into her elixir field.
John touched his nose and chuckled. "I just wanted to give off a powerful and awe-inspiring aura, that's all. It's about presence—it's the might and dominance of the King of Horizon!"
"Yes, yes, you're the most powerful and domineering man alive," Tracy teased, blinking her eyes innocently. "I'm sure Angela knows exactly what that's like."
John sighed. When had the once-kind and innocent Tracy become so cheeky?
He silently blamed it all on Kate—the chaos queen. She'd clearly been a bad influence, teaching all the other girls how to tease him mercilessly.
What John didn't realize, however, was that somewhere far away, the Alps had begun to quake—because of the cyan tripod's emergence.
A few days later, John received an unexpected invitation.
It was from Hugo, inviting him to attend his promotion banquet.
Hugo… had been promoted.
He was now the Dean.
This was a significant moment for the Flaherty family. Although the Martial Arts League had officially clarified that the scandal had nothing to do with Alexandra, the rumors had already taken root.
Eventually, Alexandra chose to resign voluntarily.
And the moment she stepped down, Hugo rose.
John had been wanting to go to Houston to see how things were progressing with the Flaherty family anyway, so he accepted the invitation without hesitation.
At the Promotion Banquet
After three rounds of wine, the atmosphere was lively and filled with celebratory cheer.
Hugo grasped John's hand warmly, his face flushed with joy. "John, you're my lucky star! Ever since I met you, my fortune has just… skyrocketed out of nowhere!"
Though older and more experienced than Alexandra, Hugo had always been overshadowed by her superior background and connections.
That's why he had remained Vice Dean for so long.
It wasn't until the Flaherty family was rocked by scandal and Alexandra resigned under overwhelming pressure that Hugo finally had his moment to rise.
Word had it that the entire truth about the Flaherty family's illegal "daredevils" had come to light because Warren, in his desperation to eliminate John, had acted rashly.
Whatever the full story was, Hugo was nothing but grateful to John.
If it weren't for him, Hugo would still be stuck in the Vice Dean position.
John was at a loss for words. He hadn't expected to alter the entire power structure of the Martial Arts League in Houston just by investigating a fire in an orphanage.
He hadn't meant to stir up so much.
Ironically, Hugo had no idea about John's deep and personal connection to the Flaherty family.
If he ever discovered that Alexandra was John's aunt, and that the vendetta between John and the Flaherty clan had nearly reached its conclusion…
Would he still toast him so heartily?
"John, you're a rare talent," Hugo declared, eyes gleaming with admiration. "Alexandra was too proud to see it and refused to hire you as a teacher."
He raised his glass. "But now that I'm the Dean, things will change. We're going to establish a special training class to nurture elite masters—and you'll be the Head Instructor. What do you say?"
As he spoke, Hugo patted John warmly on the shoulder, eyes brimming with genuine appreciation.